Monday, October 24, 2011

First of all, you'll have to start with a foot pad that has a wide toe area, otherwise the foot will end up quite narrow at the toes and wide at the ankle.

Stuff only the foot (not the leg), and not too full, otherwise you won't be able to sculpt it.

It's always better to do the sculpting before attaching the legs to the body. You can always add more stuffing to the foot (if you need to) after the sculpting is done. Then you can attach the legs to the body and continue to stuff the rest of the legs.

Most of my creations have 4 toes, and I use pins to mark where the needle will be inserted or exit from. There are 3 pins on the foot pad, another 3 at the front seam where the leg joins the foot pad...

... and another 3 at the top of the foot.

Thread double upholstery thread on a long darner needle. Make a small knot at the end of the threads. Insert the needle into one of the side seams of the foot, right beside the toe area, and exit at the middle pin on the foot pad. Make a tiny knot.

Insert needle next to the knot you’ve just made and come out at the top of the foot where the middle pin is.

Make a tiny stitch where the middle pin is, at the front of the foot (this will ensure the thread stays right in the middle between the toes).

Then insert the needle back in the same spot where you made the knot in the middle of the foot pad, and exit at one of the side pins at the top of the foot.

Pull and hold thread while making a tiny knot. Now you have to big toes, one on either side of the sculpting you’ve just made.

Make a tiny stitch where the corresponding side pin is, at the front of the foot.

Insert the needle back in the corresponding side pin of the foot pad, and exit at the other side pin at the top of the foot.

Pull thread tight and mnake a tiny knot to hold in place.

Make a tiny stitch where the corresponding side pin is, at the front of the foot.

Then insert the needle in the corresponding side pin of the foot pad...

... and exit at the middle top of the foot. Pull thread tight and mnake a tiny knot to hold in place.

To accentuate these toes even more, I run a stitch from side to side to squash the toes a little. Do that a couple of times and finish off with a couple of tiny knots.

To make these footpads come alive, I have airbrushed around the perimeter of each foot pad and each separate toe with Copic marker #E18 (Copper). Then, I highlighted each toe, as well as the middle of the foot pad, with Copic marker #R85 (Rose Red).

Hope this technique will help you make your creations come alive... :0)))

This is the easiest way I know to wax noses, and after reading through this tutorial, you might say ‘… why haven’t I thought of that before …?’

Well, here are some helpful hints. It’s so rewarding to end up with a perfect embroidered nose after spending so much time giving our bear the look we’ve tried to achieve… but unfortunately that doesn’t happen very often, so to cover up some minor unevenness on our bear’s nose we can use the waxing method below.

This is Romeo before his waxed nose:

Place some sticky tape around the bear’s nose, very close to the edge of the embroidered nose.

Fill an empty glass jar (jam, preserves), with very hot water (only 3/4 full). Place the lid on the jar and close it tight

Get some wax and rub it on the side of the jar until you have melted a decent amount of wax to place on the bear’s nose.

Holding the jar by the top (lid) with a cloth or towel, (so you don’t burn your hand), bring the nose close to the jar and rub the bear’s nose on the melted wax

Fill all unevenness of the nose’s threads, and don’t be afraid to add more wax as needed

If you make a boo-boo, or want to correct areas that need more wax, keep rubbing the nose against the hot jar. This will keep re-melting those areas and relocating the wax where needed.

Finally, after the wax has cooled down, get some computer or photocopying paper and rub the nose with it till it shines

Peel off all sticky tape from around the nose.
Voilà! You’ve got yourself a waxed nose..! Yeah!!

To trim the muzzle of your bear, you'll simply need a good pair of sharp embroidery scissors and a mohair brush (Fur Reactivator Brush).

Before you start sewing your bear's head together, simplify your task ahead by trimming all the fur from the front part of the head gusset, right up to where the eyes will be placed on either side of the head gusset

Like this.

Then you can proceed to pin and sew the head gusset to the head sides.

You'll find that this step will make it easier for you to sew the pieces together.
Finish sewing the head, turn right side out and stuff nice and firm. This is how your bear's head should look so far

Following the 2 photos below, trim fur from the chin area in a straight line, just like an upside down 'crew cut'

Next, trim all fur around the area where the nose will be embroidered (having a wool felt template of the nose will help you see how much to trim off. Also trim a very narrow area around the seam line at the front, where the septum and mouth will be embroidered as well.

Next (if the bear you're making has dense fur), trim a very narrow line from the neck area towards where the eyes will be placed. this will define the cheeks area much more. Omit this step if you're making your bear out of sparse mohair

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About Me

My name is Monica Spicer and I have been designing and having fun creating bears since the early 1990's.
I have learned a lot in these past years and as much as I would like to travel and teach around the world, I find I'm not able to because of health reasons, so the next best thing is to share my knowledge with all of you through the wonders of the internet… :0)
These are the free 'on line tutorials' everyone has been asking for.
I've decided to list them here to make it easier to download whenever you need them, without having to email me and ask for them to be sent by email.
I do hope you'll find them useful and make your bear making a lot easier and enjoyable.
Please feel free to email me with any questions you might have, as I'll be only to happy to help you out if I can... :0)